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BEIJING : Pro-independence protests raged Monday in Tibetan-populated areas of China with at least one policemen killed and several more wounded in a riot in Sichuan province.
One of Tibet's exiled political leaders Samdhong Rinpoche said 130 people had now been confirmed killed in the Chinese crackdown after two weeks of protests, up from a previous figure of 99.
China's official news agency Xinhua reported that the policeman died in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which some see as part of a greater Tibet but which is administratively part of Sichuan.
The officer was killed by a group who attacked armed police with knives, Xinhua said.
It quoted an official as saying that the police were forced to fire warning shots to disperse the mob.
An unconfirmed report from a rights group called the Tibet Support Group, quoting a source in Garze, said a monk and a farmer had also been killed in the violence, while 10 others were injured.
The report said 200 monks, 200 nuns and about 1,000 farmers were involved in the unrest.
Separately, local authorities announced that 381 alleged rioters had been rounded up in a Tibetan-populated area of southwest Sichuan.
In Olympia, site of the ancient Olympics,protesters seeking to embarrass the Chinese government in the run-up to this summer's Games in Beijing disrupted a ceremony for the traditional lighting of the Olympic flame, which will be carried overland by runners to Beijing for the August opening ceremony.
Ten Tibetans, including a girl whose face was covered in red paint, tried to block a main street near the ceremony while chanting slogans against Chinese rule.
Later, three French members of the media rights group Reporters Without Borders, unfurled a banner and tried to seize Chinese Olympics organiser Liu Qi's microphone as he spoke at the ceremony.
Security officers quickly dragged away the protestors who've said they would dog the torch's progress right up to the August 8 opening of the Games.
"We have nothing against the Olympic Games or the athletes. We want to draw attention to the fact that China is the world's biggest prison," one of the protestors told AFP by telephone from a Greek police station where he was detained.
He and two other protestors were later charged with an "offensive act" and released pending a court appearance in May when they could face a year behind bars if convicted.
The Olympic flame is scheduled to pass over Mount Everest in Tibet in early May, and through the capital Lhasa the following month.
Its journey is expected to spark a wave of global protests against Chinese authorities over Tibet and a range of other issues, such as Beijing's record on human rights and religious freedoms.
Xinhua published a commentary on Monday calling for global opposition to such campaigns.
"In the run-up to the Games, the international community, true sports lovers and opponents of violence... must stand fast against any attempt to undermine the Olympics," it said.
Protests broke out two weeks ago in Lhasa to mark the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
Unrest then spilled into other parts of China with significant ethnic Tibetan populations.
Chinese authorities have repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who fled his homeland after the 1959 uprising, of masterminding the unrest.
The Dalai Lama has repeatedly denied the allegations, adding calls for moderation and support for the Olympic games in Beijing.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday repeated a call for China to hold direct talks with the Dalai Lama, saying she believed he could play "a very favourable role" in dealing with the "grievances of Tibet."
Her comments were echoed by a senior envoy for US President George W. Bush who met at the weekend with Beijing's ambassador in Washington.
Ambassador James Jeffrey "expressed our deep concerns over the widespread security crackdown in Tibet," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters Monday.
"He urged them to be more peaceful, to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, which is something we have stressed before, so we continue to have conversations with them," she said.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said the organisation was keeping an eye on the situation, telling Sky news: "We have expressed our deep concern as to what has happened in Tibet.
"We have also expressed our wish that it should be resolved as soon as possible. Violence is not compatible with the Olympic ideals."
China has so far refused to talk to the Dalai Lama. - AFP.sf
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